Chapter Text
Nicks POV:
Matt let out a shaky breath and sat there in silence as he tried to find his words. I could hear his breathing start to quicken in fear, and his hands begin to shake. But after a couple of seconds, Matt finally spoke, his voice quivering.
“do you remember when I would go to the gym and was out and about during the day?”
I nodded a bit. I did remember Matt was going to the gym and was out and about pretty much every week day. Though, I only asked about it once or twice and Matt just told me that it was to work off stress and get some time to himself. But clearly, it was more than that.
”Well I met some friends while I was at the gym, they were really nice and so we hung out a lot. Nick, it was the happiest I felt in a long time, when I first met them”
I felt my heart sink to my stomach. My mind went through so many different questions, but I didn’t know where to start. I could hear Matt's breathing was even faster now. I spoke through the tightness of my throat.
“what happened then?”
Matt looks down and mumbles “umm they kind of pressured me into doing things” I looked at matt with sympathetic eyes.
I could hear the pain in his voice. “What kind of things?”
matt started fidgeting and in a quiet voice responded “illegal things”
Everything around me went quiet. My heart dropped. I knew Matt wasn’t a bad person, and I thought he was hanging out with good people. But I was mistaken. I’m sure my heart rate could even be heard. I quickly spoke up with an anxious voice.
“what types of illegal things?”.
”umm at first just graffiti then that turned into pick pocketing and which turned into worse things”
I let my mouth drop again. I couldn’t believe this is what he was leading into. I knew Matt was more than capable of making decisions about what was right and what was wrong, so why was he going along with what they wanted? My anxious voice spoke again.
“What were the worst things?”
in a small voice Matt responded “maybe robbery?”
my jaw dropped again. I was honestly shocked. If they started off with graffiti, how the hell did they start robbing places? I quickly spoke up again in my anxious voice.
“Are you being dead serious? I never thought you’d rob a place…”
”me neither Nick, trust me, me neither”
I could feel my heart pounding in my stomach. The thought of my sweet and kind brother getting caught up with the wrong people and being forced to do all these things made me want to cry, scream, and puke at the same time. I was so scared of what could happen to Matt if all of this came back on him. My voice was shaky when I spoke.
“How long did you do all that with them?”
”like a month, when the serious crimes started”
I let out a deep breath. My anxiety was definitely spiking. I had so many questions I knew I needed to ask him, but I also wanted to be sensitive to the fact that this could be a lot for Matt to talk about. My shaking voice spoke again.
“what made you finally stop?”
matt looks up with teary eyes “you”
I blinked a few times. I was taken aback by what he just said. I didn’t expect him to mention me as his saving grace. But I was also confused. I wasn’t understanding how I was the one who got him away from all of that.
“Me?”
”Yeah, like after I came back from the hospital and we all started staying inside and you let us take a break from social media. You know, the detox you gave us”
everything around me started to get louder, but I also felt my heartbeat quicken a bit. My anxious voice spoke again.
“so your saying that taking a break from social media and detoxing made you realize how bad everything you were involved with was?”
”no, I knew the whole time it was bad, and I couldn’t stop because bad things would happen, but when you made us stay inside, it made it easier. I had an excuse to stop”
I felt my heart drop again when he said bad things would happen if he stopped. I didn’t realize the severity of it until right then. I knew Matt was in deep, but he was deeper than I thought. my anxious voice spoke again.
“So what happened when you tried to stop? Would they threaten you?”
”yeah and other things”
the tightness of my throat returned. I was getting anxious thinking about what other things they could have done to Matt to make him stay in their mess with them. I spoke, my voice still shaky.
“What other things?”
in a shaky voice, close to crying matt responded “the things you saw right before I went to the hospital”
my mind flashed back to the bruises and cuts I found on Matt. my mouth dropped. I felt my entire body shake as I processed what Matt just said. The truth was finally coming out. He told me the people he was involved with did something to him. I remembered the wounds I found on him. They were awful. I felt my chest tighten thinking about it again. I quickly spoke through a shaky and anxious voice.
“they physically hurt you..?”
matt eyes start watering and he slowly nods his head
“i’m so sorry Nick” Matt said as he broke out into a cry
my body started shaking as Matt began to cry. I couldn’t believe the people Matt was associating with did this to him. I hugged him, pulling him to me.
“It's alright, it’s not your fault matt. It’s not your fault at all. You couldn’t control it, this is all on them. None of this was your fault.”
Matt cried into my shoulder as I held him. He was shaking profusely and I couldn’t tell if it was with pain or fear. Or both. My heart was broken, knowing the people Matt thought were his friends were really the ones hurting him. My anxious voice spoke again.
“I’m just so glad you finally stopped and you got out. I’d.. I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to you…”
Matt kept crying into my shoulder and I let him. I didn’t know what else I could do except hold him as he let out all his emotions. I gently spoke to him as he kept quiet.
”It’s alright… it’s alright matt… it’s alright… it’s not your fault…”
I stayed still as I let Matt cry to me. My heart was beating so rapidly I could feel the vibrations all over my core. I didn’t know when they would stop or when Matt would feel better. But for right now, this was what Matt needed. He had spent months bottling these feelings up since the people he thought were friends hurt him deeply. So it was important I was there with him to help him get through this. I thought I needed to know who these people were so I could deal with them. my mind immediately went to that. I wanted to go find the people who hurt Matt and make them pay. I wanted to let them know not to mess with my little brother. But something was stopping me, and that was the fact that Matt was still so scared he couldn’t even say their names. I desperately needed to know who they were, so there had to be another way to get that information.
Then the thought of Matt’s phone clicked in my mind. my mind immediately raced to Matt's phone. I felt shocked at just how stupid I was. How did I not consider Matt's phone before? This was the best way I could get the information that I needed as to who these people were. It was Matt's phone after all, so there was a good chance he had these people in his contacts or had conversations with them talking about their illegal activities. My mind was made up. I knew I needed to check Matt's phone right now. So he spoke up.
“Matt, can I see your phone for just a second?”
Matt spoke up “it’s where ever you put our phones when you wanted us to take a break from social media”
my mind quickly realized where the phones would be. So I got up from the spot where Matt and I were sitting and took a step to leave the living room. I then stopped and said something.
“Stay here Matt, I'll be right back.”
I then left the living room, going to where the cell phones were. The spot where Matt just mentioned was in the office where everything about social media and phones were kept. I was there in seconds and went to go look for Matt’s phone.
Chris came behind me “What are you looking for?”
I jumped a little when I noticed Chris was coming into the office. I didn’t expect him to appear suddenly. I turned around and gave him a small smile. “oh I’m just looking for Matt’s phone. I thought I might use it to help with something.”
Chris raised an eyebrow at me “help with what exactly?”
I was hesitant to tell chris. I wasn’t fully sure if Chris would get the importance of why he needed Matt's phone right then. I took a deep breath. “Just trust me, I promise it’ll be fine. I just need to see the contacts in Matt’s phone for just a second.”
“Is this about the person who was banging on our door and throwing rocks at our window earlier?” chris asked
“I…uh…kind of. Look Chris, Matt has told me some things okay. you know he’s finally opened up. I can’t tell you about it because I want Matt to want to tell you. I don’t want to betray his trust but if it makes you feel better, I have a plan and i’m dealing with it”
Chris POV:
I was shocked. I was happy to hear Matt finally opened up, but I was also curious and a little nervous about what Nick knows and about what he’s planning. I sighed. “I wish you could tell me what’s going on but if you can’t, then fine. Can I atleast ask a question?”
Nick nodded “sure, what is it?”
I bit his lip. I was unsure if I should ask his question, in fear of it making Nick mad. But after a moment, I did. “Are you going to do something stupid?”
